Acts Chapter 28: Rome

Paul was gathering a bundle of sticks for the fire on the beach when a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. The islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand and said to one another: no doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea justice has not allowed him to live. Paul shook the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They waited for him to swell up or fall down dead. When they had waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen they changed their minds and said he was a god.

The chief man of the island, Publius, received them and entertained them hospitably for three days. His father was sick with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him, prayed, laid hands on him, and healed him. When this became known all the people on the island who had diseases came and were cured. They honored them greatly and when they sailed they put on board everything they needed.

After three months they set sail on an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at Malta. They stopped at Syracuse for three days, then Rhegium, then Puteoli on the Italian mainland where they found brothers and stayed with them for seven days. And so they came to Rome.

The Brothers Came Out to Meet Him

The brothers in Rome heard they were coming and came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet them. The Forum of Appius was about forty-three miles from Rome. Three Taverns was about thirty-three miles out. Communities of believers had traveled thirty to forty miles down the road just to walk the last stretch with Paul.

When Paul saw them he thanked Yehovah and took courage. He had been arrested in Jerusalem, nearly beaten to death by a mob, imprisoned for two years under a corrupt governor, almost killed in a shipwreck, and had just spent three months on an island after that. He saw the brothers coming down the road to meet him and he took courage. The community of believers walking toward him was Yehovah’s signature on the arrival. He was not alone. He had never been alone.

When they came into Rome Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him. House arrest. Custodia militaris. Confined to a private dwelling with a soldier assigned to him, but free to receive visitors, to teach, to write. It was not freedom. But it was not a cell either. Yehovah had navigated Paul from Jerusalem through every obstacle to exactly this — a residence in Rome from which he could operate.

The Jews of Rome

After three days Paul called together the local leaders of the Jews. He told them: brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me they wished to release me because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected I was compelled to appeal to Caesar — though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.

They said: we have received no letters from Judea about you and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.

They appointed a day and came to him in greater numbers. From morning until evening he expounded to them, testifying about the kingdom of Yehovah and trying to convince them about Yeshua both from the Torah of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves they departed after Paul had made one statement: the Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah: go to this people and say, you will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them. Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of Yehovah has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen.

Isaiah 6. The passage Yehovah had given to Isaiah at his commissioning in the temple when Isaiah had seen the Lord high and lifted up and the seraphim crying holy. The same passage Yeshua had quoted when explaining why He spoke in parables. The same passage now applied by Paul to the Roman Jewish community that had heard and was divided. The word of Yehovah keeps returning to this passage like a stone to the same water. Not as a pronouncement of permanent judgment but as a description of a pattern that runs through every generation: those whose hearts have grown dull toward what Yehovah is doing in their time, and the unexpected others who hear and receive.

Two Years in Rome

He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of Yehovah and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah with all boldness and without hindrance.

That is where Acts ends. Not with Paul’s release. Not with his martyrdom. Not with a verdict or an acquittal or a dramatic escape. With Paul in Rome, under guard, welcoming everyone who came through the door, preaching the kingdom and teaching about Yeshua with all boldness and without hindrance. Luke ends mid-story. The book closes on an open door.

Without hindrance. That is the last word in the Greek. Akolutos. Unhindered. The chains were real. The soldier was real. The confinement was real. And the word was going out without hindrance. Because what Yehovah purposes to say cannot ultimately be contained by chains or prisons or corrupt governors or violent mobs or shipwrecks or vipers or the intrigues of religious establishments or the indifference of kings. From Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 had been the promise. Acts 28 is the evidence that Yehovah keeps His word.

The book of Acts never ends because the story never ended. The same Spirit, the same commission, the same word going out without hindrance. That is the inheritance of everyone who reads this and believes.

— End of the Acts Series